When You Wish
by Author0fntent
Summary: During Instrumentality, Shinji is asked "What do you wish for?". What is Shinji's answer? An alternate version of the glimpse into the alternate universe from episode 26, only it's not just a glimpse...


*Disclaimer-I own zippo of Gainax. Would I? I wish...*

His name was Shinji Ikari. He was, and has been for most of his adolescence, a pawn. A pawn in the scenarios of multiple parties, including that of his own father. A scenario that had a wrench thrown into its works when another of Gendo's pawns, one Rei Ayanami-a human/angel hybrid clone-gave control of the Instrumentality process to Shinji, a being who, for all intents and purposes, should be completely unprepared for godhood. A being who, after living a life that was engineered to turn him into the most depressed, nihilistic, antisocial individual in existence, should be more than unprepared to see into the hearts and minds of every human being on Earth. Yet for one reason or another, he found himself calm, at peace, part of him thinking that this is what he wanted. It was in part due to being helped in processing all of this by Rei, merged with the godlike being Lilith to bring it about. Shinji, in conversing with the joint being, examined his life's meaning. After receiving input from the soul of his mother, Yui-trapped within the colossal mechanoid known as Evangelion Unit-01, which he had piloted as part of the events leading up to this-Shinji had an epiphany. He never wanted any of this; no Angels, no EVAs. He realized that life is worth living, pleasure and pain included. He and the people in his life couldn't fathom it because events involving Angels and EVAs had crippled their ability to do so. He also realized another thing: Lilith, and her counterpart Adam, couldn't fathom it either, because they were too much like gods to conceive of it. With that, he came to a decision; he rejected Instrumentality, and gave a set of conditions to the two Angels he had met in the forms of, respectively, Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa. His terms laid out, Rei/Lilith and Kaworu/Adam raised their hands in front of Shinji as a blinding white light flashed before his eyes...

When Shinji opened them, he looked at his surroundings. The curtains on his bedroom window were drawn, and warm sunlight poured in. A few posters hung on his walls (new for him); his cello case lay in the corner, closed. His SDAT player was on his desk, along with a couple of books. A pile of laundry was in the opposite corner in front of his bed. And when he turned toward his door, a startling sight greeted his gaze: Asuka Langley Sohryu, his fellow Evangelion pilot, clad in a school uniform, but more importantly, fully healed, as if she had never fought the Mass Production Evangelions at all. On her face was a complete look of utter shock as she found her eyes on Shinji; in Instrumentality, she'd seen everything, knew full well what had been going on all along, and that Shinji was essentially thrust into the driver's seat of it. The shock wore off as she dropped her school bag and grabbed him by his t-shirt's collar, her teeth gritted in anger.

"YOU! What's going on here? Why am I in your room?" she whispered, fury in her voice as she looked around at their environment. "What happened to everything?"

"Shinji, time to get up!" Yui called from downstairs. "You're going to be late for school!"

"And who the hell is THAT?" Asuka asked in her continued enraged whisper.

"I can explain, honest!" Shinji whispered in response. "PLEASE, just put me down." With some hesitation, Asuka let go of his shirt. "Listen, I'll tell you everything, I promise I will, but right now we need to act normal and just head on our way. As far as everything goes, my parents believe we've been childhood friends since age four, and you normally come by our place to wake me up and walk with me to school. They have no idea otherwise. Just calm down, act normal, and give them NO indication that anything's out of the ordinary. PLEASE?" Asuka, realizing that something about his words made sense, reluctantly nodded her head and exited his room, letting him get dressed.

"He's almost ready, Mrs. Ikari!" Asuka called down, doing her best to keep up appearances.

"Great! I whipped up a quick breakfast to-go for the both of you!" Yui replied from below.

"Thanks!" Asuka said. "We'll be right down!"

She turned back to the door to see Shinji fully dressed and ready to go. The two of them went downstairs to the kitchen. Shinji kept up his facade, but part of him took a moment to take it all in. There was his mother, at the counter, having just put a couple of plates down with a breakfast sandwich on each. She was alive, in the flesh, a warm smile on her face. Shinji and Asuka took a brief glance at the other occupant of the kitchen: Shinji's own father, Gendo, seated at the table. The two of them carefully kept their feelings of trepidation well-hidden as they looked upon a man who, in another lifetime, was the direct or indirect architect of horrid ordeals they should never have gone through. He looked quite different; he had a content look on his face as he read the newspaper, held by glove-less, unmarred hands, a pair of regular reading glasses resting on his nose. Maintaining their composure, Shinji and Asuka slowly walked over, picked up their sandwiches, then headed to the front door, where they slipped their shoes on.

"Mrs. Ikari, we're leaving now!" Asuka cheerfully said as Shinji opened the door.

"Uh, bye! See you later, mom!" Shinji said as the two of them started to leave.

"See you later, sweetie!" Yui said as she flashed a knowing wink at her son-something both teens definitely noticed as they left and made their way out of the apartment building.

"Does she-?" Asuka asked.

"Yes, she knows," Shinji replied quickly, "she was with me at 'ground zero', remember?"

"Right," said Asuka, still harboring some anger at the boy.

The two of them were soon on their way, running to the school.

"I expect the truth, and I mean the WHOLE truth, once school's over, you _verdammt_ piece of _schiesse_," Asuka declared venomously.

"And you'll get it, I swear," Shinji responded in turn, "we just need to get through this one day of school, like normal, and then I'll start talkin-OOF!" Shinji, in the midst of his hurried conversation with Asuka, failed to notice the other person running towards him as the two crashed into one another.

"EEP!" squeaked the other runner as she bumped into Shinji. Unfortunately, it was worse considering they also hit one another in the forehead. Both stumbled to the ground as Asuka looked on. When Shinji and Asuka looked up at the newcomer, both their eyes went wide with astonishment as they recognized her immediately: Rei Ayanami was looking back at them, her eyes also full of surprise.

"Ikari? Sohryu? What..." Rei said in wonderment.

"Rei? Is-Is that you?" Shinji asked apprehensively. "It worked-I can't believe it, it worked!"

"WHAT worked? What is SHE doing here?" Asuka asked with no small amount of frustration as she pointed to the girl sometimes referred to as the First Child, whom she now knew as being a significant part of the hive-mind nightmare she'd experienced.

"I...I am bewildered as to this situation myself," Rei said. "Bewildered-have I...felt this before?"

"Rei, before you start questioning your existence to the point of mindless babbling, calm down," Shinji implored. "As I told Asuka, I'll explain everything when school's over. Let's just head over there and go through the motions for now. Okay?"

Rei looked at the two with a slight hint of apprehension, before calmly nodding her head 'yes'. Shinji then stood back up and helped Rei back up on her feet. At that moment, the sound of a speeding car was heard, and soon a bright red sports car zoomed up alongside the trio, coming to an abrupt stop. The passenger side door opened, revealing the car's driver. She was a woman, around thirty years old, with long purple hair; she wore a goldenrod jacket, a white, slightly low-cut blouse, a dark blue skirt, and white heels. A pair of black sunglasses adorned her face.

"Get in! We're gonna to be late!" said driver ordered.

"Misato?!" Asuka yelped in surprise.

"Major Katsuragi?" Rei wondered aloud.

"MISATO!" cried Shinji as he jumped in, enveloping the older woman in a tight hug. "Thank god you're all right...!"

Misato was slightly taken aback by the gesture, but regained her composure quickly.

"Save it for later!" Misato barked. "Right now we need to get to school-apparently I'm you're homeroom teacher!"

Shinji adjusted himself into the front seat as Rei and Asuka piled into the back. They'd barely just fastened their seat belts when Misato resumed her mad dash to the school.

"When the day's over," Misato sternly said, "you have a LOT of explaining to do, Shinji."

"I'll do it," Shinji reaffirmed, "I promise you, all of you, I'll explain everything. Let's just get the day over with, and then all will become clear."

As soon as they arrived and Misato parked the car, everyone exited the vehicle and walked into the building, where they made it to classroom 2-A just as the bell rang. Shinji, Rei and Asuka took their seats as Hikari Horaki went through her 'rise-bow-sit' routine. Misato sat at her desk and began going over the lesson plan for the day-a plan that she secretly was now seeing for the very first time. Rei was called up to introduce herself to the class, as apparently she was a new student here. Surprising herself, she smiled as she made her introduction, with genuine sincerity in her greeting. Shinji and Asuka couldn't help but notice that Rei, while still a bit shy, was now a bit livelier than they'd previously seen her. As the day wore on, each of the four did their best to go about their typical activities. It also gave them a way to get the 'lay of the land' as it were. In Misato's case, with her fish-out-of-water feelings well-hidden, she found a few of her friends and colleagues in the least likeliest of places (to her): Ritsuko Akagi was the school nurse, Ryoji Kaji was the P.E. teacher (and Misato's fiancee), and the three bridge techs-Makoto Hyuga, Maya Ibuki, and Shigeru Aoba-were her fellow teachers. In the case of the three (no longer) Evangelion pilots, their usual friends were there, with a notable difference: Toji still had his arm and leg, as if he'd never piloted the ill-fated Evangelion Unit-03. A minor inquiry by Shinji revealed that Toji's sister Sakura was doing well, and she was the ace of her little league team. Strangely (to Asuka), Toji and Hikari were an item. Throughout the rest of the day, Rei and Shinji occasionally glanced at one another, with Rei hinting that she had some idea of what was going on. Finally, the last bell of the day rang, and the students filed out of their classrooms, eventually heading out of the school. Four people, however, stayed behind, and met up on the school's roof. It was a meeting part of them dreaded, but the three women of the group wanted answers, and the lone male had them. Misato was the last to arrive, as she closed the door behind her.

"Good," Shinji began, "you're all here."

"All right," Asuka said, "start spilling. What the hell is going on? And don't spare ANY details."

Both Rei and Misato looked at Shinji, noticing there was something different about him. He no longer stood with stooped shoulders; indeed, he seemed to be less...meek and sullen than before. Shinji eyed each of them before exhaling and beginning his explanation.

"Let me ask you all something-before Third Impact happened, what's the last thing you remember?" he asked. All three hesitated before Misato replied first.

"I remember..." Misato began "...the Geofront was being invaded by the JSSDF. It was a bloodbath-people were being shot on-sight. We'd evacuated Asuka in Unit-02 and hid her at the bottom of the lake. We couldn't find Rei. I was running to find you-you'd hidden yourself under a staircase. Some soldiers were about to kill you...But I took them out. You'd retreated into yourself; you wouldn't budge as I dragged you to the EVA cages. I was trying to get you into Unit-01. Right before we got to an emergency elevator, I remember...some more soldiers caught up with us; one of them got a lucky shot in and hit me...Mortally wounded me...

"WHAT?!" a shocked Asuka said. "You-you were..."

"I...I remember kissing you," Misato continued, causing Asuka and Rei's eyes to go wide. "I'd told you that once it was over, we'd do the rest." She quickly blushed at her statement, then let it fade as she finished. "I shoved you into the elevator and sent it to the cages, just as I started to black out...I thought I was done. That my time had come."

All eyes then turned to Asuka, who was slowly getting over how shocked she was at hearing that Misato'd been so close to death-and over how mortified she was at hearing that Misato had kissed Shinji. Asuka at first turned up her nose, her pride causing her to deny her experiences. She just as soon realized that she couldn't do it-she was tired, tired of pride dictating everything, especially after what she had gone through. She sighed and began recounting her ordeal.

"I...I was in Unit-02," Asuka began. "I'd torn the MP-EVAs to shreds. I'd found out my mom was inside my EVA-she was with me, protecting me. I thought I'd won...But Unit-02 ran out of power." She shuddered as she continued. "The MP's...regenerated. They turned their weapons into mini versions of the Lance of Longinus...and they piled on me. I was trapped...helpless...it felt like I was being eaten alive. Last thing I saw was Unit-01 rising out of the Geofront with these huge, glowing wings, like some monster from a nightmare. I could've sworn, before things went dark, I heard you scream..."

Asuka was now shaking-it had taken a lot for her to say all of that. Misato gave her a partial hug, holding her as she steadied herself. That left only Rei to give her side of the story. Rei, despite her newfound nervousness, started to speak.

"I had gone down to Terminal Dogma," she began. "The Command-Gendo was there. So was Dr. Akagi, with a gun drawn at him. We were all in front of Lilith. Dr. Akagi had a dead man's switch in her hand-she was going to activate the self-destruct sequence, to bring down the chamber and destroy Lilith. She did so...But the MAGI overrode her command. She was shocked; apparently, whatever was left of her mother had stopped it. I remember her lamenting how her mother had chosen Gendo over her...before Gendo shot her dead; she fell into the lake of LCL."

Misato was aghast at hearing her best friend had been killed in another life, after just being with her all day. Tears started to run down her face as Rei continued, looking downward.

"Next I knew, I'd been stripped naked; Gendo removed his glove, revealing the embryonic form of Adam surgically implanted into his palm. It was through me that he was going to bring about Instrumentality, his own controlled version of it; I would be the conduit for him to merge with Lilith and create a world where he and his wife would be together, always. But it didn't happen...I'd sensed Ika-Shinji's anguish at seeing Asuka torn apart by the MP EVAs, just as Gendo had phased Adam into me. I made a choice then-I cut myself off from Gendo and merged with Lilith myself, took the reins of Instrumentality from him, and gave them to Shinji. Lilith and I both had hoped he would be better than Gendo. I-we did our best to ease Shinji into the process, to help him decide the direction of it, how it would end." Rei then looked back up at Shinji. "It would appear that you defied our expectations."

Shinji looked back at her for a moment, then at Asuka and Misato. He then turned his focus to all three.

"You all somewhat remember what happened next: Third Impact occurred," Shinji said. "All life-all human life-turned into LCL. All became one; we were everywhere and nowhere. We could see everyone: their hopes, their dreams, their fears. Everything. No AT-Fields, no boundaries-no selves. And somehow, you all saw I'd been the eye of the storm. You all saw who I am, how I work-what got me to where I'd been."

Asuka, Rei and Misato nodded in affirmation. In the maelstrom that was a gestalt human existence they'd somehow only temporarily experienced, they had indeed seen Shinji inside and out, at his best and worst. Right now, they were feeling a mix of sympathy and pity; on the other hand, there was also a feeling of revulsion, since they had also seen in his memory something he had done to Asuka as she lay comatose in the hospital, something that he himself was greatly ashamed of (and thankfully, did not bear repeating). All knew it would be some time before any attempt could be made to forgive him for his actions. All that aside, one question remained on their minds.

"So, what happened?" Asuka asked, the anger mostly gone from her voice. "Why's everything like...this?" She held her arms out as she pointed in all directions. Shinji briefly closed his eyes as he took another breath. He opened them back up as he looked all three straight in the eye before he answered.

"It occurred to me when Rei-_Lilith_ bonded with me," he explained. "Life's supposed to be bitter and sweet; it's an important balance. Both the good and bad have to be embraced-I realized that while I held all that power. But I also realized something else-the presence of the Angels and the EVAs, specifically the presence of Adam and Lilith, threatened that balance. They were heavily tilting it towards the bad; it's why anyone greatly involved with EVA seemed to be more miserable than most people. According to them, I was the worst affected by this; I'd somehow become the anchor that dragged it further down. An embodiment of the Hedgehog's Dilemma; a black hole of despair. I could've given in easily, let it happen and not do a thing...but something deep down inside me made me realize that I really didn't want this. What I really wanted...was a normal life. So I made a decision, and got Lilith and Adam to agree to it. I used all the power I held...and rewrote reality."

Asuka, Rei and Misato stared at Shinji in shock upon hearing that.

"I rewrote reality and erased the things that upset the balance," he elaborated. "In this reborn world, there's no Adam or Lilith; no Second or Third Impact; no NERV, no Evangelions, no SEELE. None of the things that made our lives hell this past year."

To say that Asuka, Rei and Misato were stunned was an understatement. Shinji kept going as he explained the changes his actions wrought.

In the remade world, Misato never accompanied her father on the expedition to Antarctica that unearthed Adam; indeed, Adam himself dissolved into nothingness as soon as the ice holding him was broken. The failure of the expedition enabled Dr. Katsuragi to return home, and eventually reconcile with his wife and daughter. Misato never went catatonic and mute; her teenage years were relatively normal. When she got older, she pursued a career in teaching, a dream Shinji had learned of during Instrumentality. She still befriended Ritsuko and Kaji in college; but without the traumas each had gone through because of Second Impact, Misato and Kaji had actually made it work between them.

For Asuka, things couldn't have been better for her; her own mother was alive, and sane. Her father never left them. Because of this, Asuka had a more stable upbringing. With no Project-E, she no longer needed to compete to be the best; there was nothing to prove. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Asuka grew up still a prodigy, but had gotten along with others in spite of her intellect.

For Rei, hers was the most drastic change of all. Like Adam, Lilith dissolved after being discovered in the caverns of what would normally have become the Geofront. No longer a human/angel clone, Rei was now a test-tube baby, her birth mother impregnated from ova donated by Yui Ikari. For all intents and purposes, Rei was now truly a member of the Ikari family, as Shinji's half-sister. She'd been living with relatives until transferring to the school, at which point she'd move in with the rest of the family.

For the three, upon learning all of this, it was a lot to take in. Misato broke the silence that followed.

"What I want to know is-why us? Why do we remember what happened...back then?" she asked.

"I think," Shinji began to reply, "it's more than that I felt the three of you were the most important women in my life. But part of me wanted us to remember because it'd help us treasure all this a bit more. Think about where we were before all this."

He walked up to Misato. "Misato, my father basically pushed you into becoming something of a Captain Ahab. He nurtured your desire for revenge; look at how you ended up. Tactical expert by day, melancholic alcoholic by night, with few friends and ill-equipped as a legal guardian. But even then, I'm still glad you took me in. I know you did your best, even with all of what you carried. I should've said thank you a long time ago." Misato gave him a small smile at hearing this.

He then turned to Asuka. "I knew for a while that you were like me in some way. I just wish it didn't take Third Impact to find out why. Looking back on it now, I can see how much all that conflict took from you. I just wish I'd gotten it together sooner so I wouldn't have been such a ripe punching bag for you. I really wish I'd done more to help you, instead of...using you in my own way." Shinji looked down and away at saying this, before reasserting himself. "Believe me when I say, I am truly sorry for what I did. I was weak and at a really low point. I wish I could take it all back. I'll live with it as my penance. I'll understand if you'll never forgive me. All that and...I do love you, Asuka. I always will." Asuka was taken aback by all he'd said. Then she simply said one thing in response: "...Let's just take it one day at a time. Okay? I'll need to think about this. I know you'll be patient with me; after seeing what you went through, _gott_ knows I should've been more patient with you."

Shinji nodded, and then turned his attention to Rei. "When I learned what you were, I was horrible to you. I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself for that. At the same time, I really felt for you. My father treated me like a tool, but he treated you worse. There might have been a little truth to the way Asuka kept calling you a doll, because that's partly what he did see you as: a doll, in my mother's image, without feeling, unable to think for yourself. If I was going to make amends with you, I wanted to make sure that you'd be something more than what had been laid out for you. It's why I cut you off from Lilith; why you're now fully human. Why I'm going to try and be a better brother to you than I should have been before." At that, Shinji then embraced Rei in a hug. Rei, hesitant at first, returned the favor and hugged her newfound brother back, a small smile on her face.

"That's all well and good," Asuka began, "but now this begs the question-what happened to Adam and Lilith? I find it a bit hard to believe they'd willingly go 'quietly into the night' like that, just because you told them to."

"About that..." Shinji began.

**Flashback: Moments before Shinji had altered reality...**

"Are you two sure you'll be able to pull this off?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, I believe we can do as you asked," replied Lilith, in the form of Rei.

"I have always wanted to try a 'vanishing act'," added Adam, in the form of Kaworu.

Shinji had asked them to participate in a couple of alterations to put reality on a different track. Adam, upon his discovery in the Antarctic ice, would 'dissolve' into nothingness, depriving the Katsuragi Expedition of a great find but preventing Second Impact from ever occurring. Instead of unleashing his power in a raw, powerful explosion of light, Adam contained his power and merely evaporated into thin air. Lilith, meanwhile, would pull off a similar feat underneath Hakone. Lilith did her best to put up a believable illusion: a larger, decomposing version of herself, falling off a large metal cross into a pool of her own blood, dissolving before she even reached the bottom, much to the misfortune of the scientists hoping to derive samples from her. The LCL would also evaporate, leaving them with nothing. Discouraged, the scientists left Hakone, never to return. No Adam and Lilith meant no Project-E; no Project-E meant Shinji and Asuka's mothers lived, pursuing other areas of scientific research; no Project-E meant SEELE's goals were doomed to never come to pass. A short amount of time later, Adam and Lilith returned to Shinji, their tasks complete.

"Thank you," said Shinji. "I'm only sorry that your time on Earth resulted in...well...all this."

"It is not your fault," said Lilith. "We bear as much blame as anyone. We realize now that we were both unprepared to know and comprehend the full depth of what the human experience had to offer, or what consequences our 'interference' would bring. I dare say that my children may have surpassed me more than I could imagine."

"Still," Adam began, "we feel we have gained a little insight into mortal life. Perhaps it might do us well to learn more in other parts of this universe."

"I hope it works out well for you two," Shinji said. "And Lilith-thank you for letting Rei have this chance. Are you sure you're okay with her existing apart from you?"

"I am," Lilith replied. "You have had as much stake in her well-being as I did. I believe living among you would continue to bode well for her."

With that, the two Angels rose into the air and made their way towards the stars.

"Good luck, both of you," Shinji said as they departed. "Safe travels."

"Farewell, Shinji Ikari," said Adam.

"Take care of yourself," added Rei, "and take care of them as well."

Shinji gave them a small wave as they then transformed into two orbs of light that shot across the sky, until they were no longer as distinguishable from the stars above.

**Back in the present...**

"Wow," was all Misato could say after Shinji finished.

"Yeah," Asuka, "I mean, you basically stopped the world from getting screwed over by having a couple of gods 'play dead'."

"What happened to SEELE then?" Misato asked.

"If my understanding's right," Shinji started to answer, "a scientist in their employ blew the whistle on what they were planning in the first place, and Interpol was brought down on them."

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Misato began, "during lunch I looked at a paper in the teacher's lounge. It said that the members of the so-called 'Human Instrumentality Committee' had been tried at the Hague and found guilty for attempted genocide. According to the article, Lorenz Kihl was the last to be executed earlier today. And the scientist who blew the whistle on them? Naoko Akagi."

Shinji nodded affirmatively. Without his parents joining SEELE (through NERV's predecessor GEHIRN), and without his mother's absorption into Unit-01, Gendo saw no need or reason to pursue his affair with Naoko. Naoko herself was able to clear her conscience in exposing SEELE's activities, taking a burden off her shoulders and allowing her to be there more for her daughter Ritsuko.

"One thing still bothers me," Rei said, "what became of the power handed to you?"

"Simple," Shinji answered, "when I finished with the rewrite, I gave the rest back to Adam and Lilith, to make their journey easier."

The three women were stunned again.

"You had godhood in your hand, and you just gave it up like that?" Asuka asked.

"I had good reason to," Shinji replied. "We all saw the motives behind SEELE and my father's hunger for it. Good or bad, no one should have that much power. Better to live as a human than to simply exist as a god."

There was a pregnant pause between all four as they took in the weight of his words. Finally, Misato spoke up.

"Heh-I remember an old civics teacher of mine saying something along those lines," she said. "That those best capable of wielding power are the ones who don't truly want it. My teacher would've been proud of you."

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "I never wanted to pilot EVA; what makes anyone think I'd want to be a god?" It was then that he took Asuka's hand, if only for a moment. "I like it better down here." For the first time this day, Asuka managed to crack a smile herself.

Misato at that moment looked at her watch. It turned out the four of them had been on the roof for almost an hour, and it was starting to get well into the evening.

"I don't know about you, but it's starting to get late," Misato implied. "I think your folks might be wondering where you are right now."

"Good point," Shinji said as he checked his watch as well. "I think Rei and I should head home."

"I agree," Rei said in turn.

"Same here," Asuka added. "I think I'd like to let my mom know how much I missed her."

"This is all going to take a lot of getting used to," said Misato, "But for once, I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah," Shinji said as he, Rei and Asuka turned to leave. "See you tomorrow, Misato."

"See ya," Misato replied as she waved goodbye. _And thank you_, she thought to herself.

The trio then made their way down the stairs and out of the school building, and soon were on their way to their respective places. When they got to Asuka's apartment, Asuka did something very uncharacteristic of herself before she opened her door: she hugged Shinji. When she released him, she said her goodbye, with a little something extra.

"See you tomorrow," she said, "and thanks...for giving us our lives back. Mine especially." With that, she opened her door and headed inside. "I'm home!" she called. "Welcome back, sweetie," Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu said, "Was school okay today?" "Yeah, it was," Asuka answered as she closed the door behind her. "Let me tell you all about it..."

Shinji and Rei then walked up a couple of more floors to his family's apartment. Along the way, Rei asked Shinji another question.

"Aside from the four of us, does anyone else remember Instrumentality?" Rei inquired.

"Just mom," Shinji answered. "One thing I made sure to do when I remade reality was to erase people's memory of it. It's better this way. Even father doesn't remember any of it."

"Good," Rei replied as the two of them arrived at the apartment, where a few boxes of Rei's belongings lay outside. Shinji opened the door as they both headed inside.

"We're home!" Shinji and Rei called.

Yui came to greet them at the door. "Welcome home," she said. "I take it you cleared everything up?"

Shinji nodded as Yui turned her attention to Rei, and then gave her a warm hug. "Welcome to the family," she said as Rei returned the hug.

"Thank you," said Rei as a small tear slid down her cheek.

As soon as they got settled, the three of them sat down for dinner at the kitchen table. Shinji raised his glass as he decided to propose a toast. Rei and Yui followed suit.

"What are we toasting to?" Rei asked curiously.

Shinji smiled. "I don't remember where I heard this, but I think it'll fit. We'll toast...to the first day of the rest of our lives."

With that, the three of them clinked their glasses as they started to eat.

**The End.**

****Author's Note****

**A few ideas in this story were inspired by Traitor of All Traitors' "Reversal of Misfortune". The main idea behind this is Shinji taking advantage of the glimpses he gets during Instrumentality into other lives, other worlds...and deciding that what he really wanted was a mundane life, warts and all. Considering he never wanted to pilot EVA, despite his coming up with reasons for continuing to do so, it would be exactly what he'd wish for.**


End file.
